The sun sets on 2009

May the sun rise on a peaceful and prosperous 2010...

Repairing a path light

When night falls, darkness renders Searock formidable and dangerous. For this reason we are equipped with path lighting to render the darkness penetrable to all.

Here is one of our helpers who needs help...

...more than just a change of bulbs, the socket has corroded(click photo for closeup). Note the fragment of mica (just below the removed wire connectors) that formed the cap to the old socket where the pins of the bulb plugged in.

You can see it better below by comparing the new socket (bottom) to the old:

In the preceeding photo, the old socket has already been removed from the bracket and the new one put in its place using those 2 small screws. Below, you can see the new socket on the bracket (at right) wire-nutted to the conductor wires and silicone has been squeezed into the nut ends to seal the connection from moisture.

Now the socket and bracket have been re-inserted into the housing, and it's ready to have a new bulb put in:

Let there be...

LIGHT!

mushrooms and flowers

 

Christmas Eve 2009

Merry Christmas. The gift has been wrapped and given. Be sure to open it up.

Rack and pinion skylights

Rack and pinion gears convert circular momentum into linear momentum. As the pinion gear rotates, the rack is driven one way or the other in a linear fashion. I'm sure there are a number of fascinating metaphors and analogies this could inspire, cosmic, temporal, spiritual or psychological, but that can be your part of this blog. My part will be to describe what I did today:

The greenhouse skylights are operated automatically by means of a tube motor working off of temperature sensors and a computerized controller, rotating a steel shaft. A system of rack and pinion gears mounted on the shaft, which is attached to the rafters with pillow blocks, push or pull the skylights open or closed according to temperature settings in the controller.

The gears and blocks are fitted with zerc fittings to allow for grease to be pumped into the contact surfaces, to reduce friction and assure a smooth operation. This needs to be done once a year or so, because the grease gets old and dries out(obviously).

I decided to clean off that old hardened grease first, and oil the shaft, which is getting coated with rust.

(pillow block, before cleaning)

Here below are the cleaned and regreased racks & pinions in room 5:

When the skylights start making too much noise as they open or close, I can tell it's time to relubricate the gears and pillow blocks.
The pins at the bottom of the shaft are a safety feature to prevent the rack from exiting the pinion gear altogether, should the controller or the tube motor fail to stop rotation according to plan. Having seen what happens when things go wrong with rack & pinion gears, it gives me peace of mind and satisfaction to know these are operating smoothly.


Here's what the rack & pinions looked like in room 4 when I got up close:


And after cleaning and relubrication:



The view from up there:

Shaggy Mane

They start out poking up through the most inhospitable places:

Then they begin to flare out and air out:

They proceed to droop and get "shaggy":

and then melt into a black ooze:

Point Lobos

Looking north towards Point Lobos on a sunny December morning.

A cord of unseasoned oak

Dropped in our service yard, this pile of oak needed to be stacked along the fence and left to season for 6-8 months before it is ready to burn. Our current stock should last us through the winter, but come spring, who knows if oak will be available, what it's price will be or if it will be legal to sell it to burn in fireplaces? (Maybe if I buy some carbon credits?) I'd ordered 6 boxes of kindling to go with it, but kindling is not available since the cabinet and mill shops are shut down due to the economic slowdown. I'll have to come up with it the old fashioned way.

Sunset, December 7, 2009

It's often the stormy days that yield the better sunsets. A few clouds put an accent on the brilliance that lays somewhat concealed just behind them. Not that the cloudless sunsets aren't glorious in their own right. But I like how the obscurity ends up serving that glory in spite of itself.